Amid the density and constant movement of Pluit, Breathe House was designed as a place to pause from the bustle of the city. Through courtyards, voids, balconies, and green spaces, the house brings light, air, and a sense of nature into the occupants’ everyday lives. Breathe House is ultimately about creating room to breathe in a city that never stops moving.
Amid the dense urban landscape, designing a home is often reduced to a matter of maximizing floor area and keeping costs efficient. For Jeffri Angkasa of Angkasa Architects, however, a house should be a living space that breathes.
This approach is fully reflected in Breathe House, a residential project in Pluit, North Jakarta, which demonstrates that the limitations of an urban site need not stand in the way of creating an intimate dialogue between people, architecture, and nature.
Bringing Spaces to Life Through a Different Perspective
Every project begins with a way of looking at the site. Set on a narrow 12 x 25-meter plot within a dense residential neighborhood, Breathe House faced a classic set of urban challenges: limited airflow, exposure to the east-west sun, and a lack of worthwhile exterior views.
Rather than forcing openings toward the outside only to expose the density of the surrounding neighborhood, Angkasa Architects shifted the perspective inward, redirecting the visual orientation of the house toward its interior. This was made possible by introducing a courtyard as the central visual focal point of the home.
This shift in perspective transforms the house into a self-contained ecosystem. Instead of looking out onto the bustle of the streets, the occupants are surrounded by a private green landscape that flows into every corner of the house.
From Evaluating the Past to Experimenting with the Facade
Bringing Breathe House to life was far from an overnight process. It emerged from a series of in-depth evaluations and carefully considered design experiments.
The design process began with an honest assessment of the clients’ previous home, which stood on the same site. In the old building, the staircase was positioned directly at the center of the house, compromising spatial efficiency, limiting layout flexibility, and leaving many areas underutilized.
As a solution, Angkasa Architects undertook a major reconfiguration by moving the staircase to the left side of the building. This change had a significant impact: the living, dining, and kitchen areas could now be arranged in an open, linear configuration. Circulation became cleaner and more logical, creating a greater sense of spaciousness on the 12-meter-wide site.
In response to the tropical climate, the building mass was consolidated to create a long open space along the side of the house, forming a side courtyard. This side garden serves as more than a landscape feature; it is a key element in the circulation of air and natural light.
Large glass openings were introduced to create a fluid transition between the interior and exterior. The courtyard serves a dual purpose as the building’s lungs, drawing cool air into the center of the house while also extending the visual field of the main living spaces.
Aesthetically, the exploration of the design language resulted in a harmonious combination of crisp modern lines and curved elements, appearing across both the interior and facade. A carefully composed palette of timber screens, natural stone (travertine), textured paint, and black accents was developed through meticulous experimentation. The team even conducted on-site tests beforehand to observe how the colors and textures would appear under direct sunlight.
The facade not only helps reduce solar heat gain, but also creates a dynamic play of shadows throughout the day, making it one of Breathe House’s most iconic defining features.
A House That Grows with the Rhythm of Its Occupants
Good architecture cannot be separated from the way it responds to the movements and habits of the people who inhabit it. At Breathe House, the four-story structure is arranged as a continuous flow that accommodates the rhythms of the entire family.
The first floor is designed as a public and semi-private zone, bringing together the foyer, an open-plan living-dining-kitchen area, powder room, parents’ bedroom, and neatly concealed service areas. Moving up to the second floor, the family’s private zone accommodates the master bedroom with a walk-in closet and ensuite bathroom, as well as the children’s bedrooms and playroom. All are intentionally oriented toward the courtyard to maintain privacy, tranquility, and a steady supply of natural light.
Meanwhile, the third and fourth floors transform into spaces for private recreation and hobbies, encompassing a sunken area, BBQ area, entertainment room, bar area, and private salon, before culminating in the service zone at the highest level.
Ultimately, Breathe House demonstrates that an urban home does not have to sacrifice comfort simply to shield itself from the noise of the city. Through a sensitive response to the site, the courage to reevaluate past functions, and a mature design approach, Angkasa Architects has transformed a limited plot in the heart of a dense neighborhood into a complete private oasis—where architecture, light, and nature come together in a single breath of life.
Project Details
Architect: Angkasa Architects
Photography: Mario Wibowo Photography
